


Scrape, March 13, 1971

by MissAtomicBomb77



Series: For the Greater Good, Let's Do the News [14]
Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:50:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAtomicBomb77/pseuds/MissAtomicBomb77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Leona go out to report on the bombing of a village and one of them is detained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scrape, March 13, 1971

March 13, 1971  
9:58 am  
United Press International Offices  
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phat Pran was the interpreter employed by Ed Ryan and the United Press International offices in Phnom Penh. He worked with most of the reporters here in one capacity or another. If you were to ask him (and no one ever did because they secretly knew the answer) whom he preferred to work with, it was Charlie Skinner. The reason behind it was simple; it was because Charlie treated him as an equal and not a scab.

Phat had known Charlie for a few years now and in the back of his mind, Phat knew Charlie would get his way. Charlie never asked Phat to do anything he wasn’t comfortable doing and he knew in a heartbeat if Charlie only had a better grasp of the language and was a foot shorter than he was, he’d hold the heart of Cambodia. Phat had told Charlie more than once that he now had the right demeanor to live a long life, because he was calm, thoughtful and introspective. All the things that Phat found comforting and which is why Phat found kinship with him and was always ready to help Charlie. Then… there was her.

“Let me come with you.” Lee whined to them.

“No!” Charlie told her at once. “Absolutely not Lee; a city has just been bombed. There is no way for us to know how safe it is and if there’s any threat on the ground.” He’s got his hands on his hips now, looking at her and looking at their boss, Ed Ryan, who was smoking his tenth or so cigarette of the day, watching the scuffle.

“No Lee.” Before Ed can finish his argument, she’s thrown her hands up in the air.

“Ed, come on. I quit working for the pussy on the second floor to work for you and now you won’t even let me do anything?”

“No Lee, will you fucking listen for twenty seconds?” Ed says, looking for his ashtray to ground out the cigarette. “No, you can’t go into the bomb zone. You can hitch a ride to the outskirts and talk to any refugees there, okay? I’ll be honest I’m not in the mood to lose my three best people after we lost Jerry a few weeks ago, okay?”

Phat closes his eyes a moment while Lee looks away from the desk and Charlie stares at his shoes, reminded that what they do is life and death, even if they don’t always think it to be. Ed breaks the reprieve. “Go and I swear to God Lee, if you go in there I will fire you so quickly…”

“Yeah, I know.” She says as they lurch out of the office at first and break into a run to get downstairs and negotiate transportation. 

~~~

Phat drove the older Jeep as Charlie rode up front. He was holding on to the windshield as the roads were less than flat and the jeep lacked any kind of suspension on it any more. Charlie kept his focus forward trying to ignore Lee, sliding around in the jump seat, struggling with pulling her hair back and securing it with bobby pins. The pins had flown out of the container several miles back (he knew only because of a less than muffled curse), but at least the container was in her purse and she was able to get them from there. 

Her hair wasn’t done to its usual perfection, but it was done enough for her to use the black scarf she kept in her purse to hide her distinct blonde hair. She never had any luck replacing the helmet she lost the day she met Charlie and he never bothered with one because he said he wore one enough while he was a Marine and wasn’t going to ever again if he could help it. She couldn’t bring herself to cut and dye it as most of the other female journalists she had met had done. Vanity, she supposed. Her blonde hair attracted attention good and bad. Right now, she needed that distraction off the table.

They could feel instantly when the air changed. The sky became a little less bright and the gentle waif of smoke had started to reach them. Soon, there was humanity on the roadway and this was where she got off. As she jumps out of the jeep, Charlie grabs her arm. “Stay near the road. If we’re not back by two o’clock, find your own way home.” 

She nods, it’s their standing agreement but it has never come to pass. He gives her a kiss, not quite as hasty as usual, but nice, a promise. Her hand lingers on his beard, which has filled out nicely in the last few weeks before the jeep peels away from her and she’s surrounded by people. The language they speak is Khmer and she knows a little thanks to Phat, but not much. 

“kh'nyohm ch'muah Lee.” My name is Lee. “ta neak nee-yay pee-a-sah ong-klay tay?” Do you speak English? She tries for French and after hugging some women and even carrying a child, she finds someone within the crowd that does speak English. The crowd looks bewildered and much to her surprise, not as many injured as she feared. Lee used to have a hard time “working the humanity” as Charlie calls it because there were times that she was dumped into situations she just couldn’t do anything about and it bothered her.

She’s adjusted to it now. For example, she carries a small switchblade, a sewing kit and an extra lighter in her shoulder bag. There will never be enough things in the world for her to have, but these, these she can manage. Soon the words start to filter in, the roar of planes, several passes. Too many someone said, so many of them took to the streets so when the bombs actually fell, there were few trapped inside. It sounded purposeful to Lee, but she knew that she was only getting half of the story and knew that Charlie would put together the rest. He always did.

~~~

The drove into the leveled city as far as Phat was willing to go. The found an outcropping that reasonably disguised the jeep and started on foot over the rubble. It was a newer settlement; gray crumbling concrete gave way beneath their feet as they worked towards what seemed like the center of town. Charlie’s mind is at work, absorbing everything, the smells, and the sights the direction of the wind. Everything and nothing, all these details he’s taking down in his mind. He wouldn’t say photographic because it’s not quite like that, but if given the chance, his recall is something not to be doubted. 

“There seem to be few casualties?” Charlie asks Phat.

Phat shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe there were warnings?”

Charlie is rolling this thought around in his mind. Newer city, few casualties when there was the prospect for a huge loss of life, civilian life at that and yet, here in the center of town, with buildings shouldering, there was no one to be found. Why would you warn anyone unless… unless you were doing this to yourself. “Phat, we’ve got to get out here. This was done by the Cambodian military for propaganda reasons…”

Phat stumbles and Charlie hears voices at this point and sees from the corner of his eye about a half dozen members of the Cambodian military come into his line of sight. Weapons are drawn at them and as Phat regains himself he tells Charlie to raise his hands as he does so himself.

The military men are yelling now and they are quickly enclosed in a circle. Charlie’s grasp of the Khmer language is mediocre at best, but he’s able to pick out more by circumstance that they want to know who they are. He knows that Phat is explaining that they are press but the men with the guns are not impressed.

“Wallet,” Phat says. “Slowly.” 

Charlie follows the instruction and produces his wallet. One of the soldiers takes it from him as another takes it from Phat. It feels like forever, but it is in reality on a few moments as they give Phat his back and bark at him in the native language. He’s a Cambodian citizen and yes, while he’s a journalist, his citizenship trumps his job. They tell him something again and Charlie can pick out the word home. Phat shakes his head no and gestures towards Charlie and offers a retort.

He swallows the lump in his throat. It dawns on Charlie that they just let Phat go and he’s not going to leave. They are still holding Charlie’s wallet now, pouring over it and he can tell that they are trying to decide what to do. 

It’s a long few minutes as they banter among themselves and finally decide that he’s a prisoner worth having. One of the soldiers shoulders his weapon and pulls Charlie’s hands out of the air to lash them behind his back with some sort of leather strap. Phat’s telling them something now and they are steadfastly ignoring him. Finally, a soldier looks and laughs at Phat then motions with his hand flapping. Talk.

The solder that bound his hands is now pushing Charlie along as the group heads back towards the direction in which the soldiers came. “They’re going to take you to the commanding officer.” Phat tells Charlie walking with him.

“Can you leave?” Charlie asks.

“I am free to go.”

“Are you going to?”

“Not without you.” Phat tells him. “Besides, I’m not about to face Lee without you.”

Charlie tries not to smile and looks to the ground. “You’re a good friend.”

“No, I’m just scared of the woman.” Phat responds, truthfully.

~~~

Time was moving at a painful pace. Charlie, for his part was trying to do something with it, with being ignored as the soldiers argued and played cards amongst themselves. He was convinced beyond a doubt that this bombing was for self-serving purposes, morale purposes. However the fact that there had been no sign of someone higher in rank than these men indicated to him that the brass was having a hard time coordinating the right people to express outrage. 

Which is most likely why he was here now, sitting cross legged on a concrete floor, hands tied behind his back watching his captors. Phat sat quietly next to him on his knees, almost meditative. They discovered early on that while they were tolerant of Phat staying with Charlie conversation was not appreciated. Unfortunately, the boredom has set in since Charlie had deduced with a fair amount of certainty what they had stumbled on and how he was going to write this article an hour ago. He even had a fair guess what Lee had learned and how he was going to write that in. It was in his mind, waiting for a typewriter.

The men playing card games have even lost his interest because it took him not too long to determine that they were young, painfully so. The idea of war and being a soldier was a game to them still. They were all too new, too young, and too naive. Not knowing what Charlie knows, that they are painfully out manned, gunned and out lead. This leads him to think of Lee and while he doesn’t want to think of her, he’s out of angles and ideas about the current story to dwell on.

He’s not worried about her per se. She’ll remember their agreement and he’s confident that she will head back without him and Phat. He was nervous for Phat at first, but his reasoning for staying was sound, because if he did go back without Charlie he could only imagine the verbal and perhaps physical lashing Lee would issue. Not to mention that Charlie had no idea what waited for him here. He was deathly afraid that she would try to interfere and come get him. Her liability, well, was her sex and he had a vision of her coming to his rescue and it ending in a spectacular mess. She was good at that, making messes while trying to do something good. 

He’s a man, he was in the army himself and he recognizes the overall boorish behavior and the occasional rude gesture from his captors. It would be a little bit different if there was a commanding officer, it always was, but he was having horrifying thoughts about these men being left unchecked with a woman like Lee. Yes, his imagination was not doing him any favors right now. Even contemplating the sense of helplessness he would have is making him feel ill so he’s trying to push her out of his mind. This is easier said than done and for once, he curses his own imagination for being too vivid.

Charlie decides at this point that if he’s going to let her invade his thoughts, he’s going to do it on his terms and decides to focus on how he’s going to apologize to her once he’s out of his current situation. Well, he’s assuming he’s going to get out, he just can’t see exactly how. 

~~~

She honestly didn’t think they were going to be gone this long. The tide of people has started to move away from the city now and she absently goes with them. She was wearing her wooden sandals today and she kind of wished she wasn’t, they weren’t the smartest choice for walking over extended periods of time. Lee doesn’t complain because most of the women around her aren’t even wearing shoes. They’re moving towards Phnom Penh, she knows this. As skirmishes in the country take place, the people have moved towards the capital. 

The city is a different place now, for what once was the edge of town was now the start of a refugee camp, mostly the young and the elderly that have few people to look after their interests. She knows this because she’s taken the time to learn it. She has the gift of the French language and because independence from France was not even twenty years old, there are natives that speak it. She was always able to find people to talk to her and she thanks her mother for this. Her mother was like a queen, always able to engage someone and make them feel twenty times their own worth and this is not lost on Lee as she learns about the people of this country. 

Lee is carrying a little girl on her hip now and she believes that this is why she let her mind drift to her mother, a person that she fails to understand. The failure is recent, because before Lee went to college, she had no idea about who her parents were. She was in her mother’s constant care until college and while her mother sent her to school, it was sheltered and it was her mother’s doing and her mother’s choosing. Lee’s education was her mother’s highest priority. Because of this she was sheltered from the real lives of her parents. 

Her father was one step short of a crime boss in Lee’s opinion and used his business as a shield to do whatever he wanted. The one thing he wanted above all else at his age, she learned, was women. She spent her first months in college reading every Hollywood magazine she could get her hands on and she saw all of these pictures of him with all of these red lipstick types of women. Mafia insinuations galore and the people she had dismissed as family friends were celebrities. 

Knowing all of this, she has a hard time fathoming how her mother could be so… queen like. Then one day, Lee knows. She has nothing else so why not invest in others? So she vacillates from feeling sorry for her mother to admiring her mother for making the best out of what she has. Which brings her back to now and Lee finds herself wondering if she’s making the best of what she has. Charlie.

He is absolutely like no one she’s ever known. He’s smart, no, fucking smart. He works on an entirely different level than anyone she’s ever met. He’s contemplative and she’s almost certain that his soul is as deep as the ocean. He always seems to be three steps ahead of her and while that makes her absolutely crazy, she admires it. He can pull wisps out of the air to formulate thoughts she wonders if anyone has ever had before. He’s all these fantastic things and while he does not do it on purpose, he makes her feel worthless.

She needs the world they live in. She needs people, she needs interaction, and she needs to be complimented as well as complemented. She needs to be worshiped and adored. She thrives off the affection of others and she knows this because she was trying so hard to isolate herself before…before him and the minute after she was safe, she knew from that point forward that she needed all of those things, all of that interaction to be her.

Charlie, she has learned, needs none of this. If she hadn’t fallen into his life literally, he’d happily sleep alone, drink alone, smoke alone and thrive in his own mind and thoughts. His mind, it’s always just… going. She wonders if she does anything for him, constantly. Lee has convinced herself that she must. Because even though he’s a great thinker, a great mind, she wonders if he uses her to test any number of thoughts that go through his mind. She hopes that he does, that she is the sounding board he needs to become even more brilliant. 

Would anyone understand what it is that Charlie does to her? What Lee thinks that she does to Charlie? Perhaps this is a conversation best suited to her father instead of her mother. Previous to Charlie, she had no knowledge of sex except for few hasty and painful interactions with Arthur Lansing. Which she now knows absolutely were awkward thanks to Charlie. She tries not to dwell on the sex, but my god, she knows there is nothing or no one else on this earth that will ever come close to what they have. She wonders if he thinks about her or just thinks about women in general and she’s just the lucky one that’s there. She’s never asked but she knows she’s not the only woman to give into his… whatever it is. She has no idea where he comes up with the things that they do and she can't even guess what’s going on in his mind before or during or after. She wonders if he’s thinking about the next story he’s working on or what they did to each other the night before. She never knows with Charlie and while that might be a discomfort to some, it’s glorious to her.

Stumbling over a rock has shaken her out of her reprieve and she focuses on the walking, hoping, praying that Charlie and Phat, they’ll come tearing down the road soon. 

~~~

It was well after three o’clock when the convoy of jeeps heading towards the bombing site tore past them. In a strange way, it was a relief for her to see them. It meant something was finally happening. She strained to see if there was anyone she recognized, but they came and went so quickly Lee was unsure if there was anyone worth noticing. 

She dared to hope and was rewarded with the view of military trucks in the distance heading their way. Large trucks, intended to move the masses. There were five of them that stopped and people started to surround them as a weaponless soldier in the back of each vehicle haphazardly grabbed people by their arms to pull them in. There wasn’t a lot of talk, there were no orders being barked. It was too calm… too organized.

Lee’s heart sinks in her chest and she knows now why Charlie and Phat haven’t returned. They walked into a set up and were more than likely being detained. These poor people lost their home for some reason, for the land, for the location, for something that the military deemed more important. It explained the few causalities and the eerie calm. None of these people knew what had happened; she had spent the better part of her day talking with them. Most of them were just happy to have the clothes on their backs or their children in hand.

Well, she thinks, now what? Do I go to them or do I go back to the city? The decision is made for her as the crowd has moved to get her to one of the trucks and an arm plucks her up from behind. She has to tell herself that going back into town and telling Ed what has probably happened is the best move but her eyes are full of tears now at the possibility that her Charming Charlie might be a prisoner of the war.

She manages to find a place on the truck bed floor and she pulls her knees to her chest. Her shoulder bag is flopping on her arm as she literally tries to crush herself into a ball. She is fighting the urge to be sick even though there is nothing in her stomach and she could use water very badly. Oh, not Charlie and Phat. She takes a little solace that they had each other, that he wasn’t alone. She can’t wrap her head around the idea of being alone, let alone as a prisoner. 

She knows he’s smart and part of her is trying not to worry, that he’s going to do everything he’s able to stay alive and get out of there. Lee hopes that she would have known in her heart if something had happened. That her soul would have turned to stone and fallen out of her chest if he was dead or some other feeling that would indicate that he was no longer on mortal coil. She doesn’t feel that, just sick and this she knows is only the beginning of something… well, something not good.

Ed doesn’t even need to ask when she finally stumbles into his office roughly an hour later. He can see that she’s haunted to her core. She looks a little rough for the wear, not quite the woman she was this morning, for the vitriol was gone while the determination was still firmly in place. 

She asks, even though she already knows the answer, if Charlie and Phat have returned. 

Ed does indeed confirm that neither Charlie nor Phat have returned. “Can I get you anything Lee? Other than Charlie?”

She lets a smile slip then, a few tears spring out and she just throws herself into him, hugging him. Ed has no words for her, he just holds her until she breaks away a few moments later.

She peels off her sandals and sits in one of his guest chairs and asks for some water. Ed complies and has the foresight to bring a filled pitcher along with the Styrofoam cup back to her.

After she’s done drinking some water, she eventually wanders out to the desk and typewriter outside his office and starts to put the story to paper, if only for the feeling that she’s doing something. She knows what she’s writing borders on fiction, because it’s only an assumption at this point. Deep down Lee knows that Charlie’s slowly becoming the story. He would hate that.

~~~

The air in the closed in warehouse was starting to become stifling. Even just sitting, sweat is starting to trickle from his brow and his shirt is starting to stick to him and he’s only sitting still. So he can only imagine what it’s like for the soldiers that are playing cards and jumping around, marching around, bantering with each other.

It was going to happen at some point. Charlie had spent the better part of the day being calm but he could feel the edge of his temper start to burn at him. He’s a good man, in his heart and in his soul, but once in a great while his anger, it burns hot, white and wide. This was in large part the reason for his self-imposed exile from the rest of the world and why he was no longer with the Marines. Injustice, unfair treatment, collateral damage these were examples of things that bothered him. Now he discovered less to his own surprise and more to his own discomfort that making Lee worried or scared because of something he may do was now on that list.

He knows that Phat has been trying to make some inroads with the soldiers. They don't want to have anything to do with him for a few reasons, Charlie supposes, and Charlie thinks it's because he's slumming it with him. The Cambodians have a mixed opinion of Americans, the civilians don't mind them so much, and after all it's less than twenty years since the country has come out from under French rule, so foreigners are not completely unwelcome. Yet the military, that was completely different. The resentment was deep and wide and the fear of abject communism was palpable. 

Charlie didn't ask what Phat was saying, he trusts Phat enough to know that it would be to Charlie's benefit. He was afraid of talking too much to Phat for he didn't want the soldiers to think that he was manipulating Phat in any way. He would go, talk for a few minutes and the few words of Khmer that he knew floated in and away. Charlie knew Phat was trying to be friendly, he guessed by commenting on the card game and just being talkative. 

After some time and quite a bit of conversation, Phat managed to parlay a few warm Cokes from the stores of the warehouse. No chance of untying Charlie, but it was a start. Phat leaned in and had told Charlie that they were waiting for the command unit. Well, this was something and having been a soldier himself, he understood the logic and it calmed him to a certain extent. He was still irritated that they were even in this situation on a few levels the one that comes readily to mind right now is the fact that Lee was alone.

The time was moving so slowly. Even if time was moving slowly, other things were not. Charlie watched as the mood of his captors started to shift. Someone was winning too often. They had all been drinking too much. Watches looked at, petty arguments started to escalated. General gesturing in his direction that made the hairs on Charlie’s neck stand on end. He could tell from how Phat shifted from his knees to crouching on his feet that the conversation, whatever that may have been was not good. Charlie’s gut was telling him that they were in fact, questioning the merits of keeping him. He thinks that these soldiers thought that leadership would be here by now and he would no longer be their problem. But as the day drug on, his presence was in fact weighing on them and Charlie starts to think that maybe this was an advantage.

When the pistols started flying, Charlie’s mouth gaped slightly. He looks at Phat for any indication of what’s going on and is met with the sight of Phat watching the soldiers intently. He’s listening and not giving Charlie any indication of what’s going on. There are three or four conversations going on at once, a sort of sick symphony of voices and arms waving weapons at each other. It would be beautiful if it wasn’t slightly disturbing. It seemed to be coming to a head and more than one weapon was being pointed in his direction now. The question in Charlie’s mind suddenly becomes: is someone going to fire a weapon?

One of them relents and holsters his weapon, looks around for a moment. The soldier’s eyes lands near a pole and he sees what he wants, a bucket. He goes for it and as he grabs it, Phat is at attention now, yelling, which catches Charlie off guard. A pair of soldiers come to Phat now, weapons still out, but now holding him, restraining him. 

The first soldier lugged the bucket towards Charlie and said something Charlie didn’t understand. Phat did and started yelling back. It was the trajectory of the bucket that gave it away for Charlie the half second before it happened. He gulped a breath of fresh air, shut his mouth and screwed his eyes shut and turned his face away as best as he was able. It happened so quickly and it was disgusting, the smell of however many hours’ worth of urine that was collected in that bucket. Now on him, dripping from his hair and soaking right through his clothes. He tried to shake as much as could off, but it really didn’t do much to help. Charlie let out a low disgusted sigh.

Within moments, his wrists were free and the soldiers were yelling at them, pointing them away. Charlie’s shoulder bag appeared at his feet, wallet haphazardly thrown on top. It turned out this was a waiting game and the soldiers lost, just not gracefully. Phat, now free was dragging Charlie to his feet, grabs Charlie’s bag and starts pulling him away, and they flee the stuffy warehouse from a nearby exit. Being outside did nothing to make them appreciate the warehouse where they had spent the better part of the day; it was just as hot, if only less stuffy. “You alright Charlie?” Phat asks as they half stumble, half run away.

“Disgusted,” Charlie responds, trying to ignore the wet and the stink that covered him.

“As am I,” Phat responds. “As am I.” 

It takes them some time to find their bearings and once they do, they find the jeep and tear away from the remains of the town. Once they are clear of town. They have nothing to say to each other than Charlie pleading for Phat to take him to the apartment first so he could wash the stink off. Phat agrees and within the hour, he’s left Charlie and he’s headed to UPI office to face the one person he has ever feared; Lee.

~~~

Lee doesn’t even know what to think when she sees Phat in the doorway. She would push him out of the way to find Charlie if it wasn’t for the fact Charlie had a good foot on him and is obviously not behind him. She’s standing at the outside desk and Ed emerges from his office.

“He’s fine,” are the first words out of Phat’s mouth. “He asked me to drop him off at the apartment so he could get cleaned up. He’s fine Lee.”

Ed lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “What the hell happened?”

“Still not sure,” Phat responds truthfully. “I have to write it down for Charlie,” he points to his own head. “Lots of things I heard today. It was planned, but not sure why. But we were guests of the local army. That’s’ why were didn’t come back right away.”

“That was our conclusion as well,” Ed says, “Well, Lee’s at any rate. Treated okay?”

Phat grimaces. “I was, Charlie, well, he’s okay.”

Her eyes are wide. “Take me to him, RIGHT NOW.” She grabs her sandals and hops into them. Once she’s done that, she grabs her bag and whips the paper out the typewriter that she had been using, jamming the paper carelessly into it.

Phat nods and they leave moments later. He doesn’t want to tell her anything, he’s going to leave that to Charlie and in all honesty, she looks determined enough to beat it out Charlie. Phat isn’t sure if he should feel sorry for Charlie or admire him that he has this force in the form of this woman that fights for him.

~~~

The jeep didn't even come to a stop before she flew out over the side of the door. She landed flat on her face on the ground in front of the apartment building. Phat brought the jeep to a stop as she pushed herself off the ground. Lee got to her feet and waved her hand behind her to keep Phat from following. "I'm okay," she said. "Go home, we'll see you tomorrow." She didn't look back.

"Okay Lee." Phat got the jeep back in gear and peeled away.

She touches her face now, a trickle of blood from her nose and a scrape on her forehead. "Well shit," she mutters. Her hands didn't fare well either. Charlie was a guest of the Cambodian army and she's the one with injuries. He's going to be pissed. She runs into the building now and takes the stairs two at a time to get to their apartment.

Lee pushes the door open wide, breathing deep, and she doesn't see him at first. "Charlie?" Her voice creeps into a scared noise. Phat said he was fine, but if he was really fine, why didn't he come back to the office? Why did want to get 'cleaned up'? Because if he told Phat to lie to her, she was going to be so angry with him because they may not have told each other every deep dark secret, but they never stooped to lying. She crosses the short distance to the bedroom, the bathroom light drawing her there.

Charlie's there, standing in the doorway, towel around waist, with another he's using to dry his hair. "I'm fine, I just... Jesus Christ, Lee, what happened to you?"

She almost knocks him off his feet as she throws her arms around his neck as she barreled into him. Lee just starts to sob, saying his name.

He drops the towel he was using on his hair and just wraps his arms around her, burying his face into her hair, trying to reassure her that he in fact, is fine. "Hey, now, come on, I'm fine, really, but you, my Lovely Leona, what happened to you?"

It's a half sob with a complimenting hiccup. "I fell out of the jeep," she says into shoulder, digging her nails into his back.

He's trying very hard not to laugh at her, but a sort of snort escapes his lips. "Did you wait for the jeep to stop?"

“No,” she whimpers.

Charlie can’t help himself, he laughs now. A good laugh, from the depths of, well who knows where at this point, but after this day, it felt good.

She’s horrified, but only for a moment before it becomes contagious and she too starts to laugh. Because frankly, if you can’t laugh at this, what could there be left to laugh at? Soon he lets go of her and pulls her into the bathroom. She finds herself sitting on the edge of the tub and he’s tending to her, a little swallow of vodka for her and a dash on a washcloth to clean her forehead wound. It’s not bad, it’ll heal over soon enough. 

Soon enough, he’s dressed again, wearing only jeans this time, the only pair he owns and she’s changed out of her now blood stained shirt to a simple tank top and khaki shorts. They wordlessly find their way to the hammock tonight, him first, then her, curled around him. One of his arms wrapped around her, the other behind his head. They watch the sky and then each other as they drifted into a safe slumber.


End file.
